Crossovers and collaborations have become a major trend in the world of entertainment. Though video games have been crossing over with one another for decades, cross-IP collaborations have become much more prominent in recent years, and are on a bigger scale than ever before. Fortnite has hosted over 250 crossovers in the last 8 years, and Call of Duty seems to be trying its best to catch up.
Over the last five years or so, Call of Duty has crossed over with a range of different entertainment IPs, mostly with major movie and TV franchises. 2025 has already brought two big Call of Duty crossovers, and its most recent one has broken new ground for the military shooter series, paving the way for a whole host of left field collaborations.
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Call of Duty's TMNT Crossover Sets a New Precedent
TMNT Was Call of Duty's Wildest Crossover Yet
There have been some pretty bizarre crossovers in Call of Duty's recent history, but the vast majority have fit the series' generally realistic military aesthetic. There have, of course, been outliers – like Donnie Darko's Frank the Rabbit and Saw's Billy – but generally speaking, most collab Operator skins fit Call of Duty's grounded visual design.
But Call of Duty's recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collaboration pushes the boundaries further than they've ever gone before. Inspired by the Ninja Turtles' original 1980s cartoon, Call of Duty's TMNT Operator skins are pretty out-there, at least when compared to past collab skins. Though the Turtles have been given a darker color scheme and some realistic character model features like additional facial wrinkles and muscle definition, they're still four human-sized bipedal turtles, wearing colorful masks and wielding ninja weaponry. Naturally, they stand out quite a bit when stood next to Call of Duty's otherwise human-filled roster of Operators.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were accompanied to Call of Duty by a member of the Foot Clan, whose colorful purple design was also ripped right out of the 1980s cartoon. But by far the most unconventional skin of the bunch was Master Splinter, the final reward for the premium Event Pass. Much like the Turtles, Splinter was given a realistic makeover, and again, like the Turtles, it didn't change the fact that he's a 6-foot-tall anthropomorphic rat, running around the warzone with an assault rifle and quarterstaff.
No Collaboration Seems Off-Limits for Call of Duty
Now that giant turtles and rats are running around Call of Duty's maps, it feels as though there's no reason to limit Call of Duty's crossovers anymore. Call of Duty should now be free to collaborate with any franchise it wants, regardless of whether its aesthetic would be deemed a natural fit for the military shooter series.
For years, fans have been asking for Call of Duty to cross over with Marvel, DC, and other popular superhero franchises. Before TMNT, those collabs seemed unlikely as the brighter superhero costumes and larger-than-life personas might not have fit CoD's darker aesthetic. But now, there's no reason why they wouldn't fit the series' visual tone. The designs would just need to be toned down slightly from their comic book counterparts, bringing them more in line with Call of Duty's The Boys Operator skins.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- October 25, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch, Raven Software
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- IW 9.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- FPS
